Monday, July 15, 2013

Dark circles under your eyes can make you look tired and worn out even when you're not. Hiding dark circles can be very challenging.

On my last film I was lucky enough to work with actress Sofia Black D'elia (in her early 20's).

Sofia is one of the loveliest young women I have met and has a uniquely maternal instinct. Sofia's dark circles are hereditary so it's something she has dealt with her whole life and really wanted you to know how to hide them. She truly gets the credit for me creating this post for you.

Over the years I've had lots of faces with dark under eye circles to play makeup "chef" with. I've tried many different products and created many different "recipes" with varying degrees of success.

These are untouched photos of Sofia before and after her makeup in the makeup trailer.

The basic color correction for brown is salmon or orange. Keeping that in mind your recipe may need to be adjusted depending on your skin tone. For instance if you are a darker skin tone then Sofia use more of the darker color in the Judith August Orange Masking Cream and a darker foundation color and less of the yellow powder and more of the darker orange.
If you are lighter than Sofia do the opposite.

We did an impromptu photo shoot. (not in her costume or on the film set)
You can see from this photo what a warm and caring person she is!

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Since this is a group who loves to read I thought it appropriate to share this new video from one of my You Tube Channels Greene Street Beauty. Melissa Street and I share a bit about our favorite books that we've collected over our years as makeup artists.
Enjoy!! xo, kim

Thursday, February 14, 2013

I was the Makeup Dept Head on the film "This is 40" and Megan Fox was one of my characters. I'm not sure what I expected but Megan is not only gorgeous but turned out to be a really funny and interesting person.

Let's chat about her makeup. I know you may be saying "She doesn't look like she has any on. Why are you even doing a post about this?" First of all she does have makeup on. It's subtle and correct for the scene. I think the biggest mistake people make is to over do makeup when it's not needed. With Megan in this scene I felt like my job was to enhance what was already beautiful about her and hide any small imperfections.

I did have a number of a challenges in the scenes where Megan is swimming in a pool. I knew we would be shooting for hours and hours and she would be in the water most of the day.

The scene calls for Megan to look natural with a no makeup look. Megan is ridiculously beautiful but like most of us she does have blemishes and her skin was a bit ruddy. I needed to find base products for her face that would cover any blemishes or ruddiness and look like she had flawless skin. They also had to be water proof or at least water resistant.

I ended up for this scene using Revlon Colorstay in Ivory. It stayed really well. I needed to touch up occasionally but it was a good choice and looked really pretty.

The spot treatment I used was Judith August's Killer Cover. The product has castor oil in it which makes it water resistant and perhaps even water proof. I used the lightest tone in the wheel "Ivory".

You will notice that I used mostly cream makeup on Megan because it tends to stay on better when wet.

I used La Prairie Cellular Radiance cream blush in "Berry Glow". This color looked perfect on her naturally pale skin tone and gave her just the right amount of flush in her cheeks. I really love how it looks on her in the film and in the photo above.

On her eyelids I used MAC's Paint Pot in "Ground Work". It's a long wearing cream eyeshadow in that perfect mid tone neutral taupe that doesn't look like makeup but still gives the eye good definition.

I used Dior Show Black out water proof mascara. On her upper and lower lashes.

On her lips I used Korres "Wild Rose" Lip butter. It's a lip balm that gives a rose tint to the lips. It has shea butter in it too so it's great for chapped lips.

I used Senna's Sketch a Brow pencil in Dark Taupe on Megan's eyebrows just to fill in areas and to define the arch.

Megan also has a number of tattoos and all of them needed to be covered and stay covered in the water. We shot the pool scenes for a number of days.

I had a few different people help me cover her tats on different days but I came up with the formula that we used. We made minor adjustments but basically this is what worked.

We started with Pax Paint. It's basically colored glue which is why it stays so well. The only issue would have been if the water was warm which would have pulled it off. Fortunately the water was cold!

The key is to stipple a number of colors in layers. Tones that together will match the skin tone. We used Olive 1, Ivory, Mauve Blusher and Highlight N 36-L.

This isn't a lesson in PAX paint application so I'm sorry that I'm not going into great detail on this. Perhaps I'll do a separate post on PAX application.

Next we lightly applied ERA spray makeup over top in "R2" and then sealed with Ben Nye Final Seal.

Yes, there were plenty of touch ups on those days when Megan was in the pool but it payed off. She looked very pretty and character correct and you can't see one single tattoo. (except the fake one that I applied for her character).

If you have any questions please feel free to ask in the comment section below!

Monday, December 3, 2012

What is a stye? What do they look like? Are they contagious? How do you get rid of them? As a professional makeup artist it's very important you know the answers to these questions. It's only a matter of time until you have a person in your chair with one. Or you get one yourself.

Stye on outer lid

"What is a sty?" A stye develops when an oil gland at the edge of and eyelid becomes infected. "What does it look like?" It looks like a pimple on the eyelid either on the inside or outside of the lid."What are the symptoms?" The first signs are swelling, redness and pain. The area will feel tender as well. Then a small pimple will develop in the affected area. Often there will be a yellow "tip" at the center. This is pus that has risen to the top."What causes a Stye?" A stye results from an infection of the oil glands of the eyelid that help to lubricate the eyeball. The infection occurs after these glands have become clogged. A stye can come from an infected hair follicle at the base of an eyelash. The bacterium staphylococcus aureus that is frequently found on the skin is responsible for 90%-95% of cases of styes.

Stye on inner lid

What is the treatment for a stye? Most styes will go away on their own but applying a warm compress or warm washcloth to the affected area for 10-15 minutes, four to six times a day can speed the healing of a stye. Do not squeeze or press the stye. It can spread or worsen the infection. If the stye persists for more than several days or you get multiple styes that persist you should see your doctor who will determine if it needs to be drained or if you need antibiotic ointments or other treatment. Styes are usually harmless but if they persist or seem to worsen a doctor should be contacted. Are Styes Contagious? Yes. It is very important to disgard any makeup that has come in contact with a stye. Sterilize your brushes and makeup tools (like eyelash curlers) thoroughly or discard them. Make sure the sterilizing product kills bacteria. Styes can transfer from one eye to another so do not use the same brush or powder puff on both eyes. A good idea is to use a q-tip, cotton ball or tissue that can be thrown out. It is best not to apply makeup on a stye but if it is unavoidable, be gentle and use disposable application techniques and tools.Some Information obtained from http://Medicine.net and http://AllaboutVision.com

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

I had to share this article by Cathi Singh from In My Professional Opinion about my newest business adventure with Melissa Street. She says lots of nice stuff about us. So of course I like her and her blog. lol Click below!
xo, Kim

Monday, November 26, 2012

Give Away Contest! All ya gotta do is subscribe to my new Youtube channel GreeneStreetBeauty that I recently started with my friend and professional makeup artist Melissa Street to enter. I'll fill you guys in on what's coming up for our company Greene Street Beauty but I just wanted to let you know about this contest so you can enter before it's too late. It ends Jan 1, 2013 so enter by subscribing now! Watch the video and click on the subscribe button or go to GreeneStreetBeauty on Youtube. xo, Kim

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My You Tube Channels Kim Greene Makeup and Greene Street Beauty

About Me

I've been working as a Hollywood film and television makeup artist for the last 20 years. I also design and manufacture my own line of cosmetic and travel bags. I feel pretty lucky to be part of such a great community of artistic professionals and I love what I do.